In sports there are always athletes that fans have a bias for or against. Sometimes we have the heroes of the sport while other times we see someone blossom into a villain. NASCAR is no different in this respect. But in my opinion there are many in NASCAR who are over-hated, drivers who really have not done much wrong in their career but because of who they are fans show disdain for them. Today we are going to look at one of these drivers and see why this may be the most overly despised driver in NASCAR…
My Twitter
My Instagram:
Video Credits:
ABC Sports
Bradley Elliott
DaytonaPrototypes
ESPN
FOX Sports
Jacobred00
KKB
Motorsports on NBC
NASCAR
NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR Productions
NascarAllOut
NBC Sports
Ryan Holman
Skewcar
Turner Sports
USA Network
YouTube Audio Library
Thumbnail Credits:
Getty Images
NASCAR
NASCAR Images
Richard Childress Racing
Outro Song:
Strange Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan
Songs:
Heading West by Kevin McLeod on the YouTube Audio Library
#NASCAR #Motorsports #Racing
51 comments
What are your opinions on Austin Dillon?
Let’s see how he does with a Champion as a teammate
Favorite driver since 2015
He ran over Aric to win the 500, then he run over Cindric to win the rain delayed race. HACK
I love ad
@LivelyM42 Yeah.
I’m always happy when he wins. To me it’s like seeing a friend who live in the other state from you. You don’t see it a lot. But when you do it feels DAMN good
That is if you like Dillon.
Austin Dillon is the pure definition of *mid*
Mid would be a high complement considering people out here act like he’s had the Xfinity and Cup career of Danica.
@Garrettgibbs hasn’t even ran a full cup schedule and cindric won the 500 as a rookie. give them some time, austin dillon has been in cup for almost ten years and has barely squeaked a few wins in
Mid pack driver about like Bubba
@David Foshie C’mon… even if they were “flukey”, the man has two Crown Jewel wins, and a couple National Series titles.
If he’s mid pack, he’s the ultimate king of mid pack drivers resume-wise.
People are seriously out here acting like Paul Menard or David Gilliland had better careers than he has.
@Daniel West facts. DIllon has proven he’s no one hit-wonder
I’ve never seen a multi-time National Series champion, and crown Jewel cup winner so vehemently hated for literally existing and being related to.
He’s basically just the greatest possible version of Paul Menard.
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD You do realize Austin won championships in both lower divisions and while not a front runner can still hold his own in a race and has won 4 times right? You say he shouldn’t be there but there are tons of others who would fit the bill better, like J.J. Yeley. And using the argument of he wouldn’t have raced if it wasn’t for family is stupid because there are many incredible drivers who raced because of their family, like Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Jr., Richard Petty, Chase Elliot, and the list goes on
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD lmao stop smoking meth bro, Austin’s Dad is a Good Ol’ Boy and has busted his butt for decades working for RCR, being a key piece for winning championships with Dale. Austin deserves to be in the 3 as much as Chase deserves to be in HMS.
autstin dillion is just brian vickers but takes advantage most of his rare opportunities instead of losing em
@Doggo I’m a diehard Earnhardt fan and I’m just happy to see the #3 again. Sure it’s special and emotional whenever I see Austin win. But, just seeing the number on track again is special to me
Paul Menard, while not hurting for money, has a much more likable and humble personality than Austin Dillon. Austin Dillon has been given everything and the poor boy can’t hide it a lick.
Let’s be honest, Austin Dillon is currently the ultimate mid driver of the cup series.
@UNDERSTEER ENGINEERING I think he would outperform Bowman and be slightly worse than Byron.
If I’m not mistaken, he’s also currently the only active Cup driver to have won both a Truck and Xfinity championship (IF he were to win a Cup Championship before retiring, he’d be the first driver in NASCAR history to have won championships at these top three series).
A journeyman…..
@fernando ueno idk Paul Menard was way worse than Dillon was tbh, for starters Menard only made the playoffs one time in his career (2015) and Dillon has made it in 5 of the last 7. Not to mention Menard’s 1 win to Dillon’s 4. I think it’s pretty clear Dillon is a step above Menard for sure
Austin or Bubba
I’ll be honest I did come into the season as a bit of an Austin Dillon hater, but after seeing him push for Richard Childress to sign KB and with me being a lifelong Earnhardt fan I can’t help but admire the passion he so clearly has
So in the end I’ve come out an Austin Dillon fan
LoL what passion? He’s literally the most cringe goof driver in history.
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD I mean, a cringe goof driver sure, but the goof managed to get his grandpa to sign a two time champion into the team.
Good for you. Now RCR will have 2 smartass drivers who think they are better than anyone else. Haven’t liked RCR since Dale Sr died and Harvick left.
I’m 100% with you on that. As a KB fan I wasn’t overly crazy about Austin I kinda viewed him as “silver spoon,” in Harvick’s words. After he pushed to bring Kyle on board I started to like him a lot more.
I did respect him for that
I know someone whose dad works within RCR and he knows AD personally and speaks highly of him. This guy also has talked to many 2000s decade drivers and really only spoke highly of Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart from a personality perspective, so its rare to hear him say something nice about a driver. While I don’t believe that most of the drivers are arrogant or jerking like he believes, it does tell me that those who he does like have to be good people.
I agree with this 100%!!!!
Austin Dillon was the only driver other than Jeff Gordon to finish every race in 2014
ill put it this way. Its ironic how Austin Dillon is hated for being a “silver spoon” as if the most popular driver in Nascar isnt. And plus, for RCR standards, he really isn’t bad, people need to realize that Dale Sr and Harvick was the exception, not the status quo.
Not a Timmy Hill fact: AD had an average finish of 16.5 this year, whereas Reddick had a 17.6, and finished AD on the lead lap 4 more times than Reddick, with the same amount of dnf’s as Reddick. He definitely has had some bad moments, but they’re few and far between, the dude usually puts together 10-15 place points season, which is right on par with where RCR has run so far.
The only NASCAR race I’ve ever attended was Sonoma 2017, coming off of Austin’s win at Charlotte weeks earlier. Was just me, my son and my dad, helluva memorable weekend getting to see Jr’s last Sonoma race. Part of what made it very memorable for us was Austin Dillon. Several drivers were signing autographs through a chain link fence as they arrived to the track. My son had just spotted Ty Dillon signing and was headed his direction when I spotted Austin getting out of his car with Whitney. I started calling Austin’s name and my son started calling also. Austin, looking sort of embarrassed both motioned and said that he didn’t have a marker. My son immediately stuck out his Sharpie in Austin’s direction and Austin signed my sons autograph book first. I asked for a picture with my son and Austin posed quickly for one. He then signed several more autographs with my sons Sharpie before giving it back. I was glad I got to tell him that it was great seeing the number 3 back in victory lane. With the few moments I had around Austin, he was a total class act and silver spoon or no, seemed like a genuine good young man. My son still has the autographs he collected that day, and the treasured “Dillon Sharpie”. After that day I became an Austin fan, even though my main driver is number 9, I always like it when Austin gets a win. I hope he keeps improving and can run for a championship one day.
every time I’ve met him, from trucks to XFinitty and Cup, either at-track appearances or after qualifying or race day, he’s been nothing short of great to the fans.
I met Austin at Watkins Glen while he was on his way to the grid. Really nice dude. Stopped to take pictures with a bunch of people and he thanked me for wishing him luck in the race. I’m not necessarily a fan of him but I don’t dislike him. He’s shown he can run well plenty of times and 2022 was statistically one of his best seasons.
he was very cloe to winning martinsville btw. spring anyway.
He is a nice guy but he can’t drive
Two things
1. If he’s not in the 3 he doesn’t get 1/2-2/3 of the hate he gets.
2. I don’t just think he’s the most over hated. But one of the most over looked
Not over looked either. It’s neither.
The only thing you missed was during his Texas win he has his teammate behind him. I remember that race as some felt Reddick did not pass him on purpose.
I met Austin Dillon at Phoenix in November. Nicest dude, stopped to talk about his family and racing and offered to sign anything I wanted. As for racing, RCR is a mid tier team and AD is a driver that improves as a race prolongs. I think he’s very good at finding a feel for the car/race and making adjustments, and at times has winning speed.
It should be noted that in the 2013 Xfinity Series season where Austin won the championship, he did so without winning any races that year.
Austin Dillon advocating for Kyle to join RCR could end up being a huge step for him. I hope so because I actually like Austin Dillon. We’ll just have to see where it brings him I suppose.
Austin Dillon immediately earned a spot on my favorites list when I met him at a Chevy Driver meetup at Talladega, I introduced myself as Jake, and he went “from State Farm?” Without missing a beat. He has charisma, and he earned a new fan with those three words that day. Still have my selfie with him on my phone.
After seeing that it was Austin Dillon who began the discussions to get Kyle to RCR, I found out that they had been friends for a while and it made me have a different perspective of Austin Dillon and coincidentally when I was in Las Vegas motor speedway for the race in October, I had a RCR hat and I was waiting with all of the other fans as the drivers came out and I was able to get Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch to sign that hat and talking to Austin Dillon while he was signing my hat, he complimented me on having the RCR hat for next year quoting that now I have “the right hat” and talking to him made me respect him even more and now I appreciate him more for that and helping Kyle find a better place which I think he’s going to definitely be now with RCR than what he has been dealing with the last couple of seasons.
I’ve softened my take on Dillon. Just kept wanting something different, but the longer he’s been around the more I like him.
Dude has been pretty decent. Can’t wait to see how he and KB work together next year.
Plus, that 3 has had some cool liveries since coming back.